Unusual Calls for Submissions

CALL FOR POEMS: 21st Century Howlers: A New Generation Jazz and Blues AnthologyIn the past ten to twenty years, a new generation of poets has emerged that seeks to expand and deepen the call-and-response tradition of Jazz and Blues music into the 21st century. Many of these poets may have not experienced a time when Blues or Jazz were the country’s common vernacular or were played with any heavy rotation on their local radio stations. As we quickly approach the centennial of Jazz and Blues, this anthology seeks to gather the voices of a new generation of Howlers: those poets whose work embodies or addresses the musical traditions of Jazz and Blues, and who began actively publishing no earlier than 1995. Editors are particularly interested in innovative approaches, reinterpretations, and engagements with the contemporary socio-historical moment and/or Jazz and Blues scene. Each poet featured in the anthology will provide a short commentary or anecdote on the ways Blues and/or Jazz have affected theirwriting. E-mails should contain a cover letter and submission as one attachment in Microsoft Word. Previously published work must be acknowledged in the cover letter. Submissions will be taken on an ongoing basis until March 15, 2010, e-mail 21stHowlers(at)gmail.com (replace (at) with @).

Call for Poetry Film and Video - Deadline January 15, 2010Split This Rock invites poets, writers, artists, activists, dreamers, and all concerned world citizens to submit original poetry films or videos for the 2nd Split This Rock Poetry Festival, to be held March 2010. We are looking for artistic, experimental, and challenging film/videointerpretations of poetry that explore critical social issues. Selected work will be screened during the Split This Rock Poetry Festival film program. Entries can be up to 15 minutes long. The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2010. See the guidelines and entry form for full details and submission requirements. Guidelines. Entry Form.Hawk & Handsaw wants to know what "creative sustainability" means to you. Send us your reflections and art. Tell us about your greatest triumphs and most frustrating failures. Challenge our definitions-and those held by our readers. We know that you know which way the wind blows. That a sustainable lifestyle can be as messy as it is meaningful-that it requires reflection, deep philosophical commitment and, more often than not, a good sense of humor. Hawk and Handsaw celebrates this kind of thinking. Each issue, we offer works fromestablished and emerging artists and writers, as well as a broadly reaching accounts of what it means to be sustainably creative-and, of course, creatively sustainable. More here.

Nonfiction Symposium call for entries: Center: A Journal of the Literary ArtsCenter: A Journal of the Literary Arts invites submissions for a symposium on the importance of place in creative nonfiction, to appear in its next issue (spring 2010). We encourage you to consider place from a variety of perspectives. What is its role in the essay? in memoir? in literary journalism? How do concerns about conveying a sense of place affect your own work? in what ways do you see issues of place animating the work of others? How is place specific or general? Must place be physical or is it temporal as well? What role does craft play in the development of place? Submissions should be between 750 and 1000 words. Email your submission, in a .doc format with "symposium" in the header line, to cla(at)missouri.edu (replace (at) with @). Please include a short bio. Inquiries to barberse(at)missouri.edu (replace (at) with @). The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2010.

Creative Nonfiction UPCOMING THEME: AnimalsFor an upcoming issue, we're seeking new essays about the bonds--emotional, ethical, biological, physical, or otherwise--between humans and animals. We're looking for stories that illustrate ways animals (wild and/or domestic) affect, enrich, or otherwise have an impact on our daily lives. Essays must be vivid and dramatic; they should combine a strong and compelling narrative with a significant element of research or information, and reach for some universal or deeper meaning in personal experiences. We’re looking for well-written prose, rich with detail and a distinctive voice. Postmark deadline Nov. 13, 2009. More here.

PERMANENT VACATION: LIVING AND WORKING IN OUR NATIONAL PARKSBona Fide Books seeks literary essays for a collection about life and work in our national parks. Diverse park experiences desired. Although we enjoy tree-hugging epiphanies, we also want to read about day-to-day life, and the societal, environmental, and existential implications of living in the park. What happened there, and how did it influence your life? Writers will receive $100 for their essay and one copy of the collection. Deadline: January 5, 2010. More here.